


Boy Interrupted

by ninamin



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1960s, Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Explicit Sexual Content, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Period-Typical Racism, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-01-23 12:01:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21319849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninamin/pseuds/ninamin
Summary: Unable to cope with reality and the difficulty that comes with it, 18 year old Choi San, is admitted to a mental institution in order to overcome his disorder. However, he has trouble understanding his disorder and therefore finds it difficult to tame, especially when he meets the suggestive and unpredictable Wooyoung.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	1. A Rest

Have you ever confused a dream with life, or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue or thought your train was moving while sitting still? Maybe I was crazy, maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I just a boy. . . . Interrupted. 

* * *

_ "Put him in restraints. Withdraw blood." I felt a sharp object plunge into my inner arm, grunting I pull away, the weight of what was holding me down caused more pain to shoot through my body. My heart was thrumming with adrenaline causing me to heave. The heat of a bright piercing light hovered over my face, I searched for its warmth. My teeth chattered and my limbs ache from cold my body produced, still sweat covered me, causing my hair to stick to my face. _

_ I lift my heavy moist eyelids, squinting to find the source of the commotion around me. The clang of metals and muffled voices confused me. I fought, clenched and squirmed, my weak attempt failed me. When I Inhaled, I felt a fiery heat burst in my chest and core, a cry spilled over my lips. I became frustrated I wanted, I needed to escape whatever what was happening. lifting my upper body, I try to sit up but a force gripped my arms and pushed on my now bare chest. _

_ "Hold on." _

_ "Give him five milligrams of Valium, IV." _

_ A cold tube pried my lips open and pushed its way down my throat. I felt the acid rush up my throat and spill over my mouth, I heaved and gagged, feeling the bile and mucus rush into my nose, choking me. I grip the railing and the thin mattress I lay on for support. Tears blurred my vision as I continued to throw up. _

_ "Turn his head so he doesn't aspirate." _

_ "There you go." _

_ "Aspirin fragments and vodka, I think." _

_ "Don't tell me what you think. Take it to the lab." _

_ It was as if my eyes were covered in vaseline. I blinked several times to clear my eyesight but it seemed useless. I stare at the blurry figures above me as they continue to invade me. Furious I start to push on the the hands keeping me down. My frail attempts to kick and push only caused more pain. The sound of ripping denim cut through the air, I felt vulnerable and sick as they tore my clothing. My arm was lifted and examined, a figure then took off my wrist cast. I turn my head. _

_ "You should check my hand. There's no bones in it." I wheeze trying to gain some type of control. _

_ "A wrist banger. Is that why you did this?" someone asked _

_ "And other things." I said with a pasty mouth. _

_ "His parents are on the way." My vision started to cut. I felt my body slowly become limp with exhaustion. _

_ "Sometimes it's hard....for me to stay in one... _

_...place." darkness soon surrounded me_.

April 3, 1967 

"San?" I look up at the grey haired man sitting across from me. Gwi Hwa is a colleague of my father, and as a favor I sit in his home office to discuss subjects about my personal life my parents have chosen to ignore. I knew this was coming, father doesn't like his things out of order. 

"If you had no bones in your hand how did you pick up the aspirin?" He asks. 

I leaned over to stub out my cigarette in the ashtray next to me. The office was wide spacious with many windows. It was quiet and eerie in a way that made me anxious. Looking at the clock became a hobby after starting these sessions. When father told me I would be going to an old friend of his i knew i didn't have a choice in the matter. Glancing up, I look out the window, my mother was outside pulling luggage out of the trunk of the car.

"What is my mother doing?" I ask in confusion

"Would you answer my question, please? How did you pick up the aspirin if you had no bones in your hand?" he asks. Leaning back against my chair, I turned my attention back to him.

I stick my tongue in my cheek in annoyance."By then, they'd come back."

"I see." he says giving me a condescending look, then continues to write something down. 

Scuffing, I shake my head "No, you don't." I dig in my jean pocket for another cigarette. 

"Well. Indulge me, then. Explain it to me."he says while I light my cigarette, I then inhale a deep drag.

"Explain what? Explain to a doctor that the laws of physics can be suspended? That what goes up may not come down" I jump from the sound of the phone ringing in the next room. "Explain...that time can move backwards and forwards and now to then and back again...and you can't control it?" I continue

"Why can't you control it?" Squeezing my eyes shut , I try to focus.

A dog barking in the yard floods my hearing, suddenly it feels like I'm surrounded by water.

"What?" I ask 

"Why can't you control time?

_I step into my house through the back door. I hear the chatter in the living room and the laughter of company. There was dessert present on the table among them a cake with my father's name written across it, shit today was his birthday. _

_I try to hurry and slipped off my shoes, but before I could even get the chance to sprint to my room, mother walks into the kitchen. Her hands were filled platters of finger food and glasses. She wore a wide smile with blush present on her cheeks. Her doe eyes filled with excitement and something else I knew all too well. _

_A dark green low v cut dress lay on her small frame with pearls wrapped around her neck. When she noticed me standing there she gave an impatient smile. "Where were you? Everyone is here. Come on." She puts down the dishes and guides me into the party, introducing me to colleagues of hers and fathers._

_ "Sohyun, you remember San." _

_ "Yes, I do." I smile and bow at the woman. _

_ "You're wearing this?" my mother whispered in my ear. Looking down at my jeans and plaid shirt, I scowl. _

_ "I didn't know it was so early. I would've changed." I argue _

_ She ignores me and shoves me in the living room."Everybody, Look who's here." She announces _

_ I lower my head trying to shrink as I look at all the guests. _

_ I look up at my father and the group of men around him, whom he seemed to be having a conversation with. _

_ "Happy birthday, father." I bow in respect _

_ "Thank you, son." he nods and gives me a stone expressionless look, turns and then continues his small talk, ignoring my presence. My father stood tall with a usual intimidating posture and attire, his hair was combed back but loose strands landed on his forehead. _

_ I clear the lump in my throat and continue to bow and greet everyone with a plastered smile, finally my eyes land on Park Sungwoon standing by the dining room table. His grin causes my stomach to churn so I look away quickly, turning I try to leave my mothers grasp. _

_ "San!" a woman calls as she rushes over to me. _

_ "Professor Sungwoons wife. Yunsoon." My mother says. _

_ She introduces herself. I pull off a smile and shake her hand. "You remember me? Hyejin mother. I'm Hyejin's mom." _

_ I look over at Sungwoon again to notice he is still staring at me. My throat dries, I swallow nervously and look back at his wife. _

_ "Your skin is so beautiful. Wasn't Hyejin in your Iit. class?" she asks _

_ "Yeah. How is she doing?" I ask _

_ 'She just got accepted to Yonsei University. What a conundrum. I'm a Ewha Uni girl, myself. But I think young women should make up their own mind."_

"San are you stoned?". Sound comes back and my hearing becomes clear, I look down at my burnt out cigarette. I mentally curse at myself, my hands starts to shake. 

"Do you smoke pot, take LSD? No drugs? How do you feel right now?" he prys 

"I..." The brim of my eyes start to burn with tears from frustration, I couldn't keep it together. "..don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling." I say almost defeated.

"You need a rest. " he says in a matter fact 

I shrug "Well, I'll go home, take a nap."

He comes closer into my personal space. "No. You need to go somewhere where you can get a genuine rest. And you're very lucky. The best place for someone Like you. It's Iess than a haIf an hour from here."

"Are you trying to put me in some type of a hospital?" I question. Panic overcomes me.

"Four days ago you chased a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka." he stated

"I had a headache I uh-." I tried to give an excuse 

"Your father is a friend of mine. He asked me to see you, even though I don't do this anymore. You're hurting everyone around you. Now, Namseong Mangmyeong is a top notch place. A lot of people go there. Even writers, like you." My lips began to tremble I ground my teeth in anger. Gwi Hwa got up to go over to his desk. He picks up the phone and dial. 

"Great.Yes, I'd like a cab. Handeul, please." he said into the receiver 

"My mother's here." I said through gritted teeth. 

"It'll be less emotional if we do it this way. Your parents and I talked about it." he said. Of course mother wouldn't tell me.

Moments later a loud hunk comes from outside, Gwi Hwa lead me over to the taxi. Mother was parked on the opposite side of the street. I glanced at her with pleading almost angry eyes, she only nodded and gave me a sad smile. In a way I couldn't comprehend what was going on.

I took small steps and counted each one in my head. My briefcase sat in the backseat of the taxi, my heart started to pound so hard I felt it in my ears. My chest began to tighten, I grabbed at my hair in frustration and pulled. 

Gwi Hwa put his hand on my back to guide me into the taxi. I flinched from the door being shut behind me "Now make sure, no stops." he said to the driver. Breathing and pulling in air seemed difficult.

_It was night, the sun had set and I finally had privacy. I was in my room putting on a t-shirt as I listened to them still celebrating. The popping of champagne bottles and drunken laughter became overwhelming. I escaped when mother no longer needed me._

_ "San, you there?" someone whispered outside my door. _

_ "San" goosebumps rose on my arms, I stalked over to my door, jumping from a soft knock. I start turning the handle, trying to open it just an inch. Sungwoon pushed and opened it wider, I look up at him confusion. _

_ "I want to see you again San" he whispered. _

_ "I-it was a one time thing, okay?" I clenched my jaw. I felt heat rush into my cheeks from embarrassment and shame. _

_ "Just come to my office tonight. Tell them you're going to a friend's." he begged. He smiled as if he knew I fell victim to it. I braced myself against the door using my strength to close it but he continued to push. He reeked of alcohol, I knew he wasn't thinking clearly but I became upset. _

_ "Who should I tell first? Huh My parents, the department chairman, or your wife?" I spat. _

_ "San" _

_ "No!." I slammed the door _

"What did you do?" I blinked away the memory, almost confused by my surroundings. I looked up the taxi driver in rear view window.

"What did you do?" he repeated 

"Excuse me?" I said as I grabbed a cigarette out my pocket.

"Well, you look normal." he stated 

I looked out the window sighing "I'm sad." 

"Well, everyone's sad." he said 

"I see things."

"You mean, Like tripping?" he asked 

"Kind of." the taxi turned. We pass the sign of the building 부산 소년 망명( Busan Male Asylum). The sanitarium was tall and covered in red brick. I didn't want the taxi to keep going, this place looked like a prison. 

The taxi pulls up next to to men dressed in blue scrubs and stops.

He turned and gave me a friendly smile "Don't get too comfortable."


	2. The Tour

I counted every time the leather chair I sat on squeaked. Every time it made a noise, I felt the nurse in the corner gaze on the top of my head.  
I stared at my hands as if they were the most interesting things to exist.  
My palms would condensate so often that rubbing them on my jeans caused them to become damp. I desperately needed a cigarette and an aspirin, my lips twitched, I wanted to chuckle at the irony.

An eternity seems to pass before a woman in a white coat stepped into the stuffy office, I bow to greet her, she gives me a warm smile and tells me to take a seat.  
She lays out a packet on the desk and then holds out a pen.

"Shouldn't my parents..." I say as I skim through the papers.

"You have to sign them, You're over 18. This is your decision." the women inform me

I read the black ink, words, sentences, rules, and regulations of admission. I squinted at the summed up summaries about me and why I was dragged here. Confused, I try to mouth words to defend myself, almost gapping like a fish.

"I-I didn't try to commit- I um- I didn't try to kill myself." I force out.

The woman glanced at the nurse and back at me.  
"That's the kind of thing you talk about in therapy, honey. Not here."

_I sat in the councilor's office staring out the window as Ms. Hyun gives me a look of concern.  
"You have the distinction of being the only senior not going on to college. May I ask what you plan to do?" She asks_

_" I plan to write," I say_

_"But what do you plan to do?" My brows knit together in anger_

_" Did my father call I - "  
She abruptly hands me pamphlets and flyers printed with the most prestigious colleges in Seoul._

_"We encourage all our students to find the right school for them"_

"And right here " I blink several times  
"Wha-"  
" You forgot one, dear. Sign right here" the doctor says.

I wipe my hands on my jeans once again and stare at the blank line. Did I have a choice? Where would I go if I walked out right now? Mother probably just pretend I didn't exist and I knew I couldn't ever face father. My excuses and pleads would only make matters worse. My shoulders dropped as if my body knew that I didn't want to fight anymore.

I grip the pen, with shame and conviction, I sign away my life into the hands of strangers.  
The Doctor clears her throat and nods her head in approval.

"And may I say, speaking for Dr. Min and myself, welcome Namseong Mangmyeong Choi San"  
-

I followed the nurse whose name I now know as Victor. My Korean accent struggled to wrap around it. He was African American, he explained that he was transferred to a Korean facility for experience and that he used to all the confusion.  
He had mistaken me off-putting behavior as judgment. Father worked with many people overseas, I was accustomed to different cultures. He seemed nice, but firm in a way that knew I didn't want to upset him.  
He leads me up a flight of stairs as he continued to speak.

"This is the men's ward also known as South Bell. This is where you'll be staying and this is where I work." Nodding, I struggle to keep up with his pace.

"All right, this is the second floor, I need you to stay close to me because it's easy to get lost here."

My legs weren't being obedient to my brain signals. It took all my strength to pick up my feet and follow him.  
He unlocks a door that could be considered a vault. We enter a long, and wide hall. A strong scent of coffee fused with bleach flooded my senses. I sniffled a cough and look around. The hall consisted of doors or rooms I suppose.

"This is our ward."

We travel to the first door and Victor opens it.  
"All right. Let's start with this room. This is the art room." Victor says

The room was filled with tables, art tools and miscellaneous objects spread across them. On the furthest wall there appeared to be a whiteboard crowded with pictures and messy handwriting. There were also things locked in small cages like drums and flutes. I appreciated the smell of fresh paint, it almost smothered the stench of bleach and coffee.

My eyes wandered as he spoke of the activities that take place here. My gaze then landed on a short figure in a chair by one of the cages. The person was reaching inside and playing with one of the instruments. The sound of badly played tunes caught the nurse's attention.

"What are you doing here?" Victor says sternly.

The boy whips his head around in shock.  
"I was feeling very musical today. Can I just-" the boy pleads

"Not today, honey." Victor shakes his head.

The boy stands and folds his hands in front of himself like a child. I get a clear look at his face. Under his short black bowl cut, the left side of his face was almost disfigured. His skin sagged so exceedingly that his left eye looked smaller than the other. His botched red skin traveled down to his neck.

I saw that his normal eye was looking me up and down and back at Victor. I swallow nervously and stare at the boy in awe. He then pouts his wrinkled lips and skips his way out of the art room.

"Come on." Victor ushers me out into the hallway again. The boy passes us and skips his way down the hall into one of the farther rooms. I close my agape mouth and swallow nervously.

"Lee," Victor speaks to another nurse.

"Jongho was in the art room by himself"  
The nurse panics a bit.

" I'm sorry Vic"

"All right," Victor says

Curiosity induced me to look inside each room we passed. Boys sat on beds hugging plushies while others stared at walls with no clear expression. One boy peaked out, gives me a sullen look and slams the door.  
I suddenly felt out of place, regretful even. I wanted to turn back around, I wanted to go back to the office-

"Ah, the living room," Victor announces.

The room looked ordinary with coaches and decorative lamps. Something mother would have designed herself.

"Everyone hates it," he says flatly

With every room came anxiety, I stopped looking into them for my sake, instead counted the floors shiny tiles.

"And these are the phones. You need to make a call, pick up the handle tell the nurse, he'll connect you." He continues.

We finally reach the end of the hall into an open space.  
"And this is the TV room, where everyone hangs out."

There were cartoons playing on the television although nobody seemed interested in looking at it. Boys, who didn't seem to care for my existence were playing cards as smoke clouded over their heads. My nicotine addiction suddenly started to pick at me.

The air was so thick I could almost touch it. The dim and dullness reminded me of visiting my grandparent's home in Gyeongsan.

I notice one of the boys with an odd hair cut was stretching across one of the couches with just a hospital gown covering his body. He immediately looked at Victor and me.

"I want my fucking clothes!" I jumped from the sudden outburst.

Victor puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes to reassure me.

"Then you'll have to eat something, won't you?"  
Victor says to the boy and then guides me over to a desk.

"This is where you check-in. If you want to walk on the grounds or something." He explained.  
In the corner of my eye, I look at the boy with the badly cut mullet. Abruptly the boy starts to sing very loudly.

"Oh, lordy, pick a bale of hay! Pick a bale of cotton! Pick a bale of hay!" he jumps around to get a reaction out of Victor for his racially insensitive hymn.

The nurse seemed to be unbothered as if this was normal, did this happen every day? I looked at the desperate boy, his small frail body hopped and pushed other boys who didn't even show a reaction to his loud obnoxious singing. Victor clears his throat to get my attention.

"Right now you're an " R," which means you're restricted to the ward. But in about a month, you'll probably move up to two-to-ones which is two nurses to every patient." Victor runs down.

I squeeze my eyes shut as I take in all this information, my throat becomes dry.  
"I'm not going to be here that long. I'm just here for a rest." I whisper

He smiles and pats my back.  
"It's all right. Everybody gets the same tour free of charge."

We retrace back down the hall and enter one of the rooms. This room had two beds crammed into the tight space. My suitcase laid on one of them, open as if someone rummaged through it. I opened my mouth to complain about the invasion of my privacy.

"One of the nurses has taken anything sharp out of your belongings, Oh and we are going to need those shoelaces of yours" Victor confides.

I then acknowledge the person sitting on the other bed. The boy looks up from what he was reading and shows me a toothy grin.

"Yunho this is San your new roommate." Victor greets us.  
The boy jumps off his bed and we both bow.  
"San you're very lucky. Yunho's an excellent roommate."  
" Why, thank you, Vic ." He says in English.  
"You're welcome."

The boy -Yunho hovered over me as I drew in his presence. The sweater he wore didn't do a great job of covering the scattered ink on his pale skin. His hair appeared to be so overly processed with dye that his splint ends were very visible.  
He was still giving me a jaw aching smile in which I tried to return. Glancing at the side of his part of the room, the walls were covered in multiple cartoon characters. Bookshelves were stuffed with books and manwha that I've seen boys at school fond over, but I had no interest in.

Another nurse entered the room and says something inaudible in Victor's ear.

"I will leave you to it. San, will you excuse me? I have some business I have to attend to." I nodded.  
He then turns to the boy.  
"Yunho will you take San down to the dining room in a half-hour?"

"Sure." he shrugs.  
" Yes means yes, Yunho," the nurse says as he leaves.  
"I know."

Yunho returns to his reading, I stand there awkwardly for a while, feet planted unwilling to move. He doesn't say anything so I decide to finally shuffle my feet and move across the room. I unpack, taking out toiletries, in disbelief, I pull out the clothing mother chose to pack. I grunt at the many pairs of brand name denim and trousers as if she thinks it's gonna be a fashion show here.

"Groovy box," Yunho says behind me  
"Huh"

He points at cigarette box father brought me when he came back from France.  
"That. Oh. Yeah, they're French. The French Resistance smoked them, I think." He raises his eyebrows nodding in interest, still grinning.

"You ever read this?" He shows me a manwha comic. I sit on "my" bed and look at what's in his hands.  
"No. I saw the movie a bunch of times, though." I declare.  
"The movie's actually based on the first comic  
I read that one too" he added, his eyes glinted with excitement as he talked about his infatuation with the series.

I started to count the lines across his beanie that laid on his blonde frizzy strands. A noise from outside the barred window broke my trance.

Yunho was the first one to climb up and look out, curious I follow behind. Following his gaze, we both look at Vic standing next to a person in handcuffs in front of a police vehicle. A small noise comes from Yunho's mouth. I look up to notice that he was no longer smiling.

Chatter erupts in the hallway. Yunho and I walk over to the doorway. Officers and nurses were bringing in the person from outside.

"Fucking pig. Get off me" the boy looked bewildered as he cursed at them. His light hair disheveled and covering his eyes.  
He smirked and blew kisses as they took off the handcuffs.  
All the boys were present in the hall gawking at the scene.

"Hey, Yeo Yeo let anyone in your room yet?"  
He shouts to the boy who slammed the door earlier. The other boy fumes, sneering at him and unsurprisingly goes back into his room.

"Hey, boys! Hey, sexy." Some of the boys bounced and whined excitingly while others weren't amused. One of them starts to sob, making grabby hand gestures at the boy.

"It's good to be home." He announces.

The nurses began stripping him. Taking his coat and started to search his clothing, patting him down. He kept dabbling and saying crude things as they took objects out of his pockets.

"Hey, Torch" I glance to see he was talking to Jongho  
"Hey, Woo" Jongho says emotionless.  
"You miss me?" The boy grins.  
"Not much."

The boy then spits out his gum in one of the nurse's hands, that's when he sees Yunho and me.  
I look away and start to retreat.

"Who's that with Yunho," he asks the audience.

"Come on." A nurse urges him and tries to grab him.

"Where's Seonghwa?" He half chuckles.

"I can't deal with this," Yunho says under his breath.

"Don't give me a hard time. Where's Seongwha  
Where is he?" the boy gets louder.

I try to hide behind Yunho. That's when all hell broke loose. The boy pulled away from the nurse starts to walk over to us. Yunho gasps and slams the door in the boy's face.  
The door was not locked so he yanks it open and barges in. The boy puts a chair under the door handle to stop the nurses from coming in. He then charges at me.

"Who are you! ?" He screams.

He comes closer, and closer, I step back until I feel the cold wall against my skin. His face now inches away from mine.

"His name is San and he smokes French cigarettes," Yunho says frantically.

"Why is all your shit on his bed?" He hollers, I put my hands up to guard my face. In utter confusion I yell I don't know I don't know.

"Why?! Where's Seonghwa!" he screams in my face "What are you talking about?" I say over him,  
covering my ears.

The banging at the door finally stops and the door breaks open.

"What the hell are you doing, " Victor yells angrily.

"Back off him! Back off. You've been gone for two weeks. A lot of shit has gone down. Back off!" Victor demands.

The boy still stares at me with bulging red eyes and puffy cracked lips breathing against my face.

"How'd he do it?" The boy asks Victor, still looking at me.

A nurse then grabs him.  
"Get the fuck off me!" He struggles.

"You weak people. You're all weak fucking people! You're victims! You people are fucking sick!" He chants violently, flailing around.

They drag him out of the room and into the hall. He kicks and fights but they take hold of him. A nurse with a needle takes his arm. He looks at it and his face falls.

"What? No, Vic, please. Please!" He starts to plead, he wrenches away from the nurse with the needle.

"Get his legs!" Vic orders  
"Please! Fuck, no!"

"Get his feet!" a nurse says  
"I got him!"

"Get off! No, no!" The boy cries  
"Help!" They drag him down the hall until his hollering slurs and become muffled.

Grabbing at my chest, I felt my heartbeat pounding in my ears. I look over at Yunho, he was on his bed in a fetal position, his face beet red as his hands covered his ears.

"My God. What the hell was that?" I ask.  
Yunho ignores my question or maybe he wasn't able to answer.  
The boy who was called Torch appears at our threshold.

"That was Wooyoung and Seonghwa was your roommate. Seonghwa was Wooyoung's best friend. He was sad last week 'cause Wooyoung ran away so he hung himself with a volleyball net." he answers.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I finish unpacking with an unsteady state of mind. I wanted to bathe, wash away the unease but I knew I wouldn't get any privacy. So I stood in the communal bathroom being supervised as I splashed water on my face.

Looking in the small mirror, I rub at the dark bags under my eyes. Combing my fingers through my dark greasy hair, I inhale to calm my nausea. Yunho, as promised, showed me the dining hall, I couldn’t eat the seaweed soup they served. The nurse noticed and wrote something down on her notepad. Becoming agitated I stormed out the hall. Breathing out, I grip the sink in annoyance at my adamant dignity. I needed a fucking shower.

I finally had a cigarette as I sat in the "TV room"  
I lounged on one of the further coaches, not wanting to indulge in conversation with anyone. Yunho sat right in front of the television and every once in awhile I’d hear him giggle at the cartoon.

One of them decided he wanted to have a staring contest but I chose to lose, but I still felt his eyes on me. I glance up to say something so he would stop.  
The boy with the mullet noticed and chuckled. He waved his hand in front of the boy's face but the boy didn't flinch. I wanted to ask if he was blind but decided not to. Drool starts to spill from the boy's lips.

"Mingi you're making a mess" mullet boy whines to him.

The boy snaps out of it and starts to giggle uncontrollably until he starts to choke.

Bewildered, I lower myself into cushions and count the flowers on the couch. I sat there in a daze until I hear names being called.  
Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and rushed to line up by the nurses' desk.

" Kim Hongjoong” a nurse calls.

" Song Jaemin, Choi San" I flinch from my name being called.

"Choi San" he calls again. I scurry off the coach and approach the desk.

"I am Mr. Lee and these are for you." He says handing me a small capsule with two red pills.  
"What are they?" I question.

"They'll help you sleep."

"It's 10:00," I say.

"You can discuss it in the morning, dear, with your doctor. In the meantime, we'll just have to agree to disagree." He says almost annoyed with me. I nod slowly turning away.

"Take them here. Have some water."  
Not taking the water I put them in the back of my throat and swallow, grimacing at the taste.

"Kang Yeosang" he calls next.

A boy comes and shoves me a little.  
"You can go now" He taunts.

I walk down the hall to get to my shared room. My head became heavy as I took each step. I shook my head to snap myself out of it. I lean against the wall for support. My eyes landed on the open door at the end of the hallway. Wooyoung the boy from earlier was sitting on the floor spaced out. The nurse in the room was checking his pupils. Unlike earlier, he didn’t fight he just sat there not blinking. I stared until his figure became blurry, I rubbed my eyes as fatigue came over me.

“_Heading off to Tulane University._  
_Congratulations. Jong HyeonJun”_

_“President of the French Club and honor society Park Yuhin”_

_“Choi San”_

_“Choi San Congratulations”_

_“What is he doing some kind of stunt wake up_   
_Wake up, freak.”_

“Checks.” I jump from my sleep. A nurse flashes a light in the room, right in my face, squinting I grunt at the intrusion. The nurse leaves and closes the door.

I look at Yunho to see if he had also awoken. “Why do they do that?” I asked anyway

“They're just doing checks They'll space them out more after you've been here a while.” He says groggily

I lay back against my pillow and cringe at the memory of graduation. I try to occupy my mind something else. I turn and look at Yunho

“That boy. Jongho. How did he get all...?” I ask  
Yunho opens his eyes and sighs.

“ When he was ten his mother told him that he had to give away his puppy.. ‘cause it was giving him a rash.” He pauses, looking at me as if to warn me.

“And so Jongho went and found his father's gas can and he poured it all over where he was getting the rash. And then...he lit a match.”

“Oh, my God,” I whisper.

“What about you? Why are you here?” I ask him

“Pseudologia fantastica.”

“What's that?”

“I'm a pathological liar.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own spin off of a movie I have loved for a long time. Bare with me I edit a lot and I’m trying to make it personal and emotional as possible. Hope you enjoy.


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